DENVER — On Wednesday, the nation pauses to honor our veterans, including the 2.7 million U.S. service members who served in Vietnam. FOX31 Denver anchor Jeremy Hubbard recently returned to that country with 12 of those veterans, on their first trip back to Vietnam since the war.
Nearly everything they discover upon their return is foreign. And that makes the simplest things fascinating, from the way the locals harvest rice near the town of My Tho – just as they have for centuries – to the water buffalo seen roaming the nearby countryside. A captivating country – from both above and below.
And below is where we find U.S. Army veteran Mike Herndon. He couldn’t wait to crawl through the Cu Chi Tunnels, an elaborate underground labyrinth used by the Viet Cong to hide out during the Tet Offensive, which has now been turned into a road-side tourist attraction. The dark and the dirt and the bats found in the tunnels don’t bother him a bit. He’s dead set on covering as much ground as possible on this trip, since he only saw Vietnam by air 45 years ago as a crew member on a helicopter ambulance.
For veterans like Mike, there isn’t much time to soak in this experience. Unlike their lengthy tours of duty during the war, this return visit to Vietnam is just 14 days long, and there is a lot to squeeze in.
The last time they saw the South Vietnamese Presidential Palace was in black and white photos – showing enemy tanks crashing through gates 40 years ago as Saigon fell. A few blocks away a Ho Chi Minh City apartment rooftop looks non-descript – until you realize it’s the same one from the most iconic photo of the fall of Saigon. Evacuees – clinging to a U.S. helicopter just before Communist North Vietnamese troops overran the city.
On the coast – they saw an air force base built and used by Americans during the war. But the current occupants – the Vietnamese military – have surrounded the place with their version of barbed wire – chunks of broken glass. Enough to keep Herndon from snapping any photos.
“I don’t think it’s a great idea. I can live off of their memories on this one,” Herndon said.
But those are some of the very few reminders of the Vietnam war these days. Only in dusty old war museums do they find any lingering reminders of why they were here. And how some didn’t want them here at all. And no formal mention of anything good done by U.S. forces during the war.
“I haven’t heard anybody say that the Americans started anything or left anything of value. It’s just, we’ve been completely deleted from the picture. And that sort of bothers me a little bit, because I know that we did leave something. But there’s nothing to see about it. Nothing that shows. So that sort of bothers me,” Herndon said.
But goodwill may be the legacy of their time here. Most everywhere they go now – they encounter friendly people. Locals – eager to share in their way of life.
“I enjoy the people, I enjoy the processes that go on here, I just like it,” said Ed “Tex” Stiteler, a Marine who served during Vietnam, and now runs a non-profit that transports veterans back to the war zone.
Hard to imagine a U.S. service member saying they liked Vietnam the first time they came. But as one veteran told us when you’re not being shot at there is so much more to like.
“It’s a whole new different perspective,” Herndon said.